Drama lovers are spoiled for choice with range of plays

Editorial Department • Published 18 Feb 2010 10:03 0 Comments

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Ardhowen Theatre

This week at Ardhowen Theatre it's the turn of local drama group E.A.D.S to take to the stage with a play entitled 'On Borrowed Time' by Paul Osbourn. When Mr Brink (Death) comes to keep an appointment with a young married couple who live in the Southern U.S.A., the result is an orphaned boy left behind. His family affectionately call the boy Pud including his Gramps, Julian. Pud's deceased father was a wealthy doctor who had left a tidy sum of $50,000 to his son in case of his death, and this brings out a greedy relative named Demetria who tries her mightiest to prove that Gramps is an unfit guardian for Pud so that she will inherit the cash.

When it was time to bury Pud's parents, Gramps who is not a religious man was touched by the priest's eulogy and he makes a large contribution to the Church. Pud tells Gramps that now because of this good deed Gramps performed, he is granted one wish. Gramps makes that wish rather hastily. Not too long after when a neighbouring child is up in his apple tree stealing his apples, Gramps wishes that any person who climbs his tree would never be able to come down unless given permission by himself.

The wish comes true and when Mr Brink comes to take Gramps to his final resting place. Gramps tricks Mr Brink to climb the tree as a last request for a taste of one of his tasty apples. When Mr Brink finds himself stuck up in the tree and unable to descend, there is suddenly no more death in the world. The production runs from this Thursday 18th to Saturday 21st February at 8pm.

International Medium

Ardhowen Theatre has in recent years staged a number of evenings with various psychics and mediums which have attracted large audiences and given people a lot to think about; Margaret Hurdman in particular being very popular and effective. Next Thursday 25th February at 8pm, local patrons have the chance to see a lady called Lydia Lyne, a well known psychic, medium and clairvoyant. She was only five years old when she first realised that she seemed to be able to see things that others couldn't and since that time she has spent her time helping people through the spirit world. Her army of admirers include stars such as Robbie Williams and Leona Lewis from X Factor whom she still works with. Her clarity of insight and her great gift of being able to bring forward evidence from the spirit world have brought her international recognition. Sincerely devoted to her work, Lydia understands the problems of everyday life, has the greatest respect for the spirit realms and is very confident in her spirit path. She enjoys working to help others to develop their understanding and be able to give comfort to all who need help. It should be a fascinating and extremely interesting evening in the theatre

Louise Morrissey

Next Friday 26th February at 8pm, one of Ireland's most talented and popular singers comes to Ardhowen Theatre for a great evening of song and music. Louise Morrissey is now celebrating 21 years in the music business and her easy listening style of comedy and folk and beautiful singing voice have captivated audiences wherever she has performed. A friend of Kris Kristofferson, with whom she has sung and performed, she has toured all over Europe, the U.S.A., Canada and Australia. She is currently working on a new album with tours of Spain and Portugal coming up soon. She has performed with many other well known and popular artists such as Charlie Pride, Foster and Allen and Dominic Kirwan. Her Ardhowen concert will also feature the legendary frontman of the Mighty Avons, Larry Cunningham and one of the true gentlemen of Irish Country Music, John Hogan.

Classic Play

On Saturday 27th February at 8pm, Martin McDonagh's award winning play 'The Beauty Queen Of Leenane' is staged by the excellent London Classic Theatre Company. Set in the mountains of Connemara, County Galway, 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plain, lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag, her manipulative, ageing mother. When Mag interferes in Maureen's first and possibly final chance of a loving relationship, a train of events is set in motion that leads inexorably towards the play's terrifying finale.

Martin McDonagh's multi award-winning play is a gripping blend of dark comedy, melodrama, horror and tragedy. 'The Beauty Queen Of Leenane' was first presented as a Druid Theatre/Royal Court Theatre co-production in January 1996. The play won the George Devine Award, the Writer's Guild Award, the Critic's Circle Award and Martin McDonagh received the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. The production transferred to New York, opening on Broadway in April 1998 and was nominated for six Tony Awards.

Following successful recent UK and Ireland tours of 'Abigail's Party' (2008) and 'Humble Boy' (2009), London Classic Theatre embark on their tenth anniversary year by presenting 'The Beauty Queen Of Leenane'. This 8-week Ireland and UK tour opens at the Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork with a first rate Irish cast, boasting an impressive range of work in both television drama and quality theatre. Paddy Glynn, whose West End credits include Billy Elliott, Follies and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, is joined by Connie Walker (Silent Witness, Belle De Jour, New Tricks), Brendan Fleming (Kavanagh QC, Murphy's Law) and Alan DeVally, a recent graduate of East 15 whose work includes credits at the National Theatre and The Globe.

30th Drama Festival

The 30th Annual Enniskillen Drama Festival has a very interesting line up of plays and companies and runs from Friday 5th to Saturday 13th March. With a different play each night of the Festival, it's a great chance for local audiences to see plays that are not very often seen on tour or anywhere other than the big city stages.

Friday 5th March: THREE TALL WOMEN by Edward Albee performed by Theatre 3 (Newtownabbey). Set in the bedroom of a sick and forgetful old woman, cared for by a middle aged spinster, this Pulitzer Prize winning drama unfolds, as a young woman sent by a lawyer, arrives to settle some financial affairs. As they discuss things like the human condition with its love, pain, wit, sex, and inevitable decline, the old woman recollects episodes from her life and her cold passionless marriage which she entered into for money and not for love.

Saturday 6th March: MAURITIUS by Theresa Rebeck performed by Bradan Players Leixlip (Kildare). This well made engrossing play which was a huge hit on Broadway, tells the story of two estranged half sisters, who after their mothers death, discover a book of rare and very valuable stamps. One sister tries to collect on the windfall, while the other wants to keep them for sentimental reasons. However, this gripping tale becomes dangerous when three seedy high stakes collectors enter the sisters' world, willing to do anything to claim the rare find as their own. Contains some strong language.

Sunday 7th March: ALL MY SONS by Arthur Miller performed by Pomeroy Players. It is 1947 in the United States mid-west. Joe Keller is a man who loves his family above all else and has sacrificed everything, including his honour, in his struggle to make his family prosperous. He has lost one son in the war and is now keen to see his other son, Chris, get married. Chris wants to marry Ann, the former fiancée of his dead brother who their mother Kate believes to be still alive. It is this fervent belief that has enabled her for years, to support her husband, by concealing her knowledge of a dreadful crime he has committed.

Monday 8th March: THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS by Sean O'Casey performed by Omagh Players. O'Casey's classic play contrasts the events in a Dublin tenement with the 1916 rising taking place in the streets outside. Nora Clitheroe tries to fashion a comfortable life to herself and her husband, despite grinding poverty, but her world falls apart when she fails to stop him joining the rebel forces ranged against the British army on Easter Monday.

Tuesday 9th March: THE GENTLE ISLAND by Brian Friel performed by Backburners Drama Group (Newtownstewart). The play tells the story of the lives of the sole survivors of the tiny island community of Inishkeen, off the Donegal coast and the impact on them of the arrival of two visitors from the mainland. The inhabitants have all decided to leave the island, that is all except Manus Sweeney and his family who decide to stay. The play explores many of the crucial issues affecting contemporaneous Irish culture, not least questions of identity, sexuality and gender, language and authority.

Wednesday 10th March: THE MAI by Marina Carr performed by Phoenix Players (Co Sligo). Set in the Midlands of Ireland in 1979, the play explores over the period of a year, the hopes and disppointments of four generations of women within one family and centres around the figure of Mai, a forty year old woman struggling to save her marriage and both the happiness of herself and her children. The play explores how history repeats itself, no matter how tragic the results.

Thursday 11th March: COPENHAGEN by Michael Frayne performed by Dundalk Theatre Workshop. This Tony Award winning play is an explosive re-creation of the mysterious war time meeting in 1941, when a German scientist made a strange trip to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart. These two old friends and colleagues now find themselves on opposite sides in a world war. Their world has changed and this meeting which is to share thoughts on the atomic bomb is fraught with danger and could end in disaster for them both.

Friday 12th March: THERE CAME A GYPSY RIDING by Frank McGuinness performed by Estuary Players (Dublin). The McKenna family gather at their remote West of Ireland holiday home to mark the twenty first birthday of their late son Gene. As this is happening, Cousin Bridget suddenly appears along the causeway, inviting herself for birthday cake and conversation and ready to expose a family secret. Can Margaret, the unstoppable mother and Leo, the ever calm father hold things together in the face of this unexpected visit from the past?

Saturday 13th March: DANCING AT LUGHNASA by Brian Friel performed by Clarence Players (Belfast). Set in rural Donegal in the late summer of 1936, where because of the march of industrial progress, all the old crafts and industries are dying, the play paints a passionate portrait of the five Mundy sisters and their loss of love and opportunity. It is the Harvest Festival of Lughnasa and despite the despair in their lives, their love of dance shows an image of human happiness as well as the pagan longing that exists beneath the surface of their religious propriety.

As well as nightly admission tickets, the Festival has a special season ticket which covers all nine productions. It's a great option, as it allows a holder to use it themselves or let family or friends use it on nights that they are unable to come. The Festival is indeed a high point of Enniskillen's cultural year.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Feb 10

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